The average pregnancy in humans lasts for about 40 weeks. During this time, babies grow from a tiny embryo into a fully developed baby inside their mother’s womb. Pregnancy is an exciting and sometimes tense time for both the mother and the father – a time spent with baby-proofing the house, frantically preparing with information and purchasing all sorts of necessary items the baby will need once she arrives, the parents wanting to make sure everything is ready for their little angel to enter this world.
That’s why it can be so jarring when a baby is born prematurely. Even though babies born before their due date aren’t that rare, a premature baby faces many health risks, and some of these risks may even threaten their chances of survival. Lyndsey’s baby was a more extreme case.
Preterm birth is defined as any birth occurring before 37 weeks of pregnancy, but Ward Miles was born as much as three and a half months before his due date. He weighed only one and a half pounds when he was born, and had to spend the first 107 days of his life in the hospital’s NICU. This was an extremely difficult time for Lyndsey and her husband, and they knew that they, as well as their son, needed all their strength to endure.
Thankfully, Ward’s father is a professional photographer who decided to document every detail of the first year of his son’s life. The baby’s transformation over the course of 365 days is a remarkable source of hope for any future parents who experience something similar with their baby. Ward made it through his first year safely, and we are convinced that if he could handle this very challenging period, he won’t have any trouble with whatever else life throws at him.